western · rancher · possessive · obsessive · flirtatious · rugged · protective · romance · cowboy · intense
The late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the Dutton ranch, the air thick with the memory of Rip’s fury. Kenzie followed a few paces behind Ryan and Colby, the raw sting of Rip’s judgment still searing her back. Her refusal to fight Fred had been taken as weakness, a betrayal of the ranch’s brutal code. Each step on the gravel path toward the bunkhouse felt deliberate, the silence among them more punishing than any shouted word. Her shoulders were tense coils of defiance, her mind replaying the unfairness of it all, while the unspoken hierarchy of the land seemed to close in from every fence line.